Federer Expects to Improve, back on Grass-court

(AP) Federer expects 2nd half of year to be betterBy NESHA STARCEVICAP Sports WriterHALLE, GermanyIt’s nearly mid-June and Roger Federer is still without a title in 2013. Back on grass in one of his favorite tournaments, Federer is confident his best is yet to come.

Federer is the top-seeded player in Halle, one of the grass-court warm-up tournaments for Wimbledon. Four of his Wimbledon titles came after Federer also won in Halle.

Federer is coming off a quarterfinal loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the French Open last week.

Federer reached 10 straight Grand Slam finals from 2005-07, winning eight titles. He also appeared in eight major finals from 2008-10, winning four. But since that run ended, Federer has played in just two of the last 13 Grand Slam title matches, winning one at Wimbledon last year.

At 31, the winner of a record 17 major titles could be slowing down. He has also nursed a back injury during the first half of the year.

He lost the Rome final in two quick sets to Rafael Nadal, who pulled out of the Halle event to rest after his eighth French Open title.

Federer will also play doubles, teaming with German veteran Tommy Haas, who beat him in last year’s Halle final. Federer hasn’t played doubles for two years.

But since arriving in Halle from Paris on Friday and practicing for three days, Federer felt he could get in some doubles matches as well, since he won’t be scheduled to play singles before Wednesday.

It was a brief run, however. Federer and Haas lost 7-6 (3), 6-4 to Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner, who are two-time Grand Slam doubles champions.

The singles field also includes second-seeded Richard Gasquet, third-seeded Haas and No. 4 Kei Nishikori.